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(electronic buzzing)
Straight in with a big question from the Marlows.
Thinking about swapping out his fork
and wheel on his E-bike from 27.5 to 29.
Chris, the practicalities?
- Yeah, a big question I wanna ask is,
why are you swapping that fork out?
Obviously you can fit a 29 inch wheel
in that front end of the bike
where that 27.5 plus was.
So, first thing I want to know is,
why are we swapping the fork?
Is it because you're going to add
a bigger travel option in there, maybe?
Something like that?
What's the positives, you know negatives from?
- The positives and negatives of swapping out to 29,
while first and foremost, you've seen a lot
of downhill racers have swapped to 29 this year,
which is increased speed of a 29 inch front wheel.
It also has better roll-over when you come
to rougher terrain such as roots and rocks.
Also, if you live in wetter climates
a 29 is a really good tyre in mud conditions.
On the negative side, I would be,
well, there aren't any negatives.
What you need to be careful about
is how fitting a 29 will effect
the geometry of your bike now.
This can actually go two ways.
For example, if you which bar bracket is too high,
then, if you fit in a 29 and a 29 wheel
that's going to raise it even more.
Which means you're gonna have a sky-high bar bracket.
- Yep
- On the other hand,
if the bottom bracket's too low on your bike,
and there are bikes out there where
the bottom bracket's too low,
then it's going to bring your bike
up to a happy medium.
- Yeah
- So, it's a good thing to do.
I wouldn't quite look at it as wheel size alone,
you need to think about the tyres as well,
you're going to be using on your bike.
So, that's a big, big question.
- Sounds like a lot of cost for marginal gains, in my book.
- Well, maybe, there's a lot of bike companies do now.
Obviously Canyon who've got the Spectral On,
which has got a 29 front and a 27.5 rear.
Ghost have got a 160 bike which has got
a 29 front and a 27.5 rear.
And of course you've got the new,
Specialised Levo's which are 29 front and rear.
Obviously these bikes are optimised
I don't really like to use that mountain bike term,
but they are optimised for those wheel sizes.
So it all depends, Marlow, on your particular bike.
So, if you want to get back to us with your bike,
we can probably give you some more
in depth detail on how it will effect your geometry.
John Korrison, Korrison with a 'K'.
I am confused, I am confused.
I'm confused about what constitutes
a charging cycle on my battery.
My Bosch is guaranteed for 500 cycles
does a charge from say 40% remaining power
count as a full cycle or only as a partial cycle?
Now this varies, obviously, from brand to brand.
Chris, I know that Shimano, for example,
their batteries are good for a 1000 plus charges
without any depletion in the grade of the battery.
But, we're talking Bosch here, right?
- Cycles yeah.
So, basically cycle of a battery is from 0 to 100%
it's that whole charge.
But it doesn't matter how much
of that actual charge you're doing.
So if you were doing,
you had your battery at three-quarters charged
and you just charge that last 25% to 100%,
if you did that four times,
that would account for one cycle of the battery.
It is quite complicated,
but basically, it doesn't matter if it's 70%
and then charge 30%, 90% and 10%,
anything that adds up to 100% use
of that battery is one cycle.
- Yeah, and I think the other thing, John is,
also make sure you charge your battery
when you get back in from a ride,
don't leave it on a low set charge.
Cause that actually degrades the battery
quicker than then normal, right?
- With reference to like your warranty and stuff,
I would speak to your motor or battery supplier,
the manufacturer, they'd give you a better idea.
So we got this one in from Tim Vos.
"Steve, what size do you have on your shirts?
I will buy some shirts from EMBN
we are the same build
- I'm a medium, Tim, I'm a medium.
- Sure
(laughs)
- What you got, boy or girl?
- January is due date, isn't it?
(laughs)
Nah, we both run large or along like it
on and off the bikes.
We've got the race shirts, T-shirts like Steve's got on.
Obviously the new winter jackets as well.
So check all that stuff out in the shop.
- Ooh, yeah those new jackets are great.
- Looking lovely in them.
- Oliver Hawkins is asking,
"Thoughts about carbon wheels on EMTB's:
Strong enough?
Unnecessary?
And, does it make as much difference as on a normal bike?"
Oliver, so first things first is,
You seem to suggest that
a carbon wheel does make a difference.
Well, it doesn't really.
Actually it depends on how the carbon is made
and the engineering quality behind it and the construction.
If you're talking performance advantage,
I would query whether it does give a performance advantage.
Because, there's different ways of
measuring performance advantage on wheels.
For example, if you've got a ridiculously,
technical, hard, rocky descent,
then, you might actually be better off
with aluminium wheel with 24 spokes
rather than, say, a really, super stiff
carbon wheel with 32 spokes.
Because it's basically going
to give you fatigue in you arms.
So, I'd question whether you actually
need a carbon wheel in the first place.
But, it depends manufacturing integrity
to that wheel, first and foremost.
- Definitely on the E-bikes, obviously can very heavy.
So you got all that weight on a carbon rim.
Think basically it would be strong enough
sort of side to side,
but they can crack and split quite easy.
Especially on these big rocks and things.
And obviously for the outlay,
I think I'd be investing that money
in other parts of the bike.
You know it's very expensive to set carbon wheels.
With very, very marginal performance gain
on an E-bike for sure, I think.
- I think we're talking,
if you had a 28 pound Enduro bike, 106 mil travel,
then, some carbon wheels is going to
save you a few grammes on that.
Where as on an E-bike,
you're talking a far heavier weight,
then difference in weight between a carbon wheel
and an alloy one is not going
to make a massive amount of difference.
But, more than this, you can't make generalisations
on material, whether aluminium or or carbon.
So you can have bad aluminium wheels,
bad carbon wheels and vice versa.
- Yeah, save that money, buy that spare battery,
get out double the millage on your E-bike is what I say.
Okay, Trainee Plaster First Time Drycoat Eaton
has got this question for Chris, I reckon.
"I have just got a Haiboke SDURO hard seven.
I do a mix of downhill and trails.
How much could this bike take without fear of major damage
and what upgrades would you recommend?"
- So, good bike, that nice Haibike there,
pretty capable frame fork,
but upgrade wise I'd probably be going
for the things that you're having troubles with.
If you're sliding out in corners,
getting punctures, things like that,
maybe look at upgrading the tyres.
Contact points is general point of upgrade as well.
So you have these saddles, your pedals,
your seat, things like that is worth upgrading.
But, I wouldn't go spending loads of money on it.
Just wait 'till you're better than that bike.
Cause that bike's probably better
than what you are at the minute.
And as soon as you get better than the bike.
- That's a bit of a general, how'd you know that?
- Then you can upgrade it.
- How'd you know that?
- I've seen him at the trails.
- Oh really?
- Yeah.
- I'd say that, when talking upgrades,
maybe you, rather than spend a load of money on new parts,
maybe you should consider getting a full suspension E-bike.
Because the weight difference
and having suspension doesn't matter so much
on an E-bike as it does on a non E-bike.
Michael Davies, thanks getting in touch Michael.
Question is, "Why aren't there any
frame/motor battery only kits available?
It's such a waste of money when you know
you are going to swap out loads of parts
to make it how you want it."
Well, there's not at the moment.
But, I'm sure there will be in the future.
- Good question, yeah for sure.
It's something I touched on a while back in the show.
But I think what it basically comes down to
is obviously the legalisation of that whole bike.
All these manufacturers that make bikes
have to supply them to all the authorities
make sure they pass all the tests those first few models.
And all the parts that are built with
all have to be E-bike certified,
that goes from handlebar, stem, all those contact points,
they fail on a bike, it makes the
manufacturers in probably pretty sticky ground.
So, that's one of the reasons.
- I think it's also a little bit complicated
Cause, you've got the displays
and you've got the shifters and all this stuff.
- Yeah, and connecting those control units
to the motors and stuff
and internal route and all that cable
and connections, I just don't think is something
- Yeah, but you know what,
I think it will happen Michael in the future definitely.
E-mountain biking is such a
young discipline with some companies.
Some companies have only been making E-bikes
for four or five years.
You look at Shimano they didn't start making the E-8000,
they didn't start thinking about it until 2016.
- Yeah, early days.
So we got this one coming in from JJ's Garage
"Are you going to be making any
bike front light reviews in the near future?
Would be nice to have some guidance
if bike mounted or head lamps
is preferred for riding trails in the dark."
I can answer that one for you.
Anytime I go night riding, I try and combine
a bar mounted light with a helmet mounted light as well.
Because, if you get mechanical as well,
you've got that handle bar mounted light,
you turn your bikes up or down to work on it,
you got no light, obviously you can't remove it.
The other good thing about a helmet mounted light,
is obviously you go where you're looking on the bike.
So every time you tilt your head into a corner
the light goes round.
Or if you hear a mad man, crashing around in the woods
beside you whilst you riding along,
if you just got that handle bar mounted light out front,
you can't see what's in front of you, behind you.
So it's pretty scary times.
- I disagree, I totally disagree
- You disagree, what would you disagree?
- I think it's a total myth about what you just said there
about riding, I think can do a race,
many times in the dark,
and I think you can just have a really,
really good quality front light bar mounted,
and it has such a wide beam,
you can do whatever you want.
I think this having two lights,
going two different directions,
is really, really confusing.
Plus, it cost a lot of money to have two lights.
One, good quality light, JJ,
I think is all you need, sorry.
- You wait 'till you hear that guy
crashing around in the woods.
I've had that happen to me, behind me,
a deer running along in the hedge.
Scared the living crap outta me.
So we got this one coming in from Imax, asking EMBN,
"What's your opinion on kids (12 to 16 year olds),
that ride E-bikes?"
- Lucky (explicative beep)
- True
(laughs)
That's what I'm thinking.
But, it may seem weird now,
thinking, those younger kids on E-bikes.
But, it's probably going to be the future, I think.
- 100%, you know, mountain biking hills
or massive obstacles to mountain biking.
- It would put me off when I was a kid, for sure.
- Hopefully kids, 12 to 16, will actually learn
to understand that it's up to you
how much input you put into an E-bike.
It's not a lazy sport, by no means.
You can have a really good workout on an E-bike.
And some kids will do that.
I think it's a really good transition
into more E-biking or transitioning to road biking
or any kind of mountain biking as well, I think.
- Definitely, loved it as a kid.
You imagine being able to ride those trails
up and down, up and down, all day long
instead of getting to the bottom,
push them up, and back down is a hell of a slop.
- Yeah, and there seems to be more
and more brands bringing out kids E-bikes,
which is a great thing.
- Yeah, exciting times.
- Quick fire!
- Let's get into it, MVH808, here's a question,
"How does a DIY E-bike conversion
compare to an all in one E-bike?"
- Depends on the DIY bike
and depends on the all in one bike.
- True.
Superd Osborne, "Have you considered
doing E-bike group tests,
not 25Km drag tests like car and motor mags?"
- Yeah we've considered doing drag tests,
but we tend to spend more of our time
in the mountains on single track
and technical track, right?
- True.
Got Develop IT, "Why is it Steve
who is always sitting close to the bear pumps?"
- Next question!
Oh, and we're all out of ask EMBN!
Thanks for all your great question.
Also, it would be good to get your feedback
on some of the answers we've provided.
Because is a two-way thing really,
so, the more information we get, the better.
- And don't forget to add those questions
in the comments box below, #askembn,
we're gonna get back to you on those questions,
in every show, so don't forget to add
your question in the box below.
- Yeah, so you can check more videos,
have a look if you're still considering
on buying an E-mountain bike,
cause there's a video, which we've done here,
on what E-mountain bike to buy.
- Check out the slab videos, as well,
see how extreme we can climb on the bikes, as well.
It's a real cool one if you haven't seen it.
(laughs)
- Don't forget to get the T-shirts.
- Yeah, check out the shop.
Don't forget to visit next week's Ask EMBN
Get those questions in and we'll see you on the next one.
- Can't wait, can't wait!